


crashing down on me, crashing down on you

by escapismandsharpobjects



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Car Accidents, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s01e13 Wait and Hope, FebuWhump2021, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mostly Canon Compliant, Whump, yeah babey we got both!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-16 23:02:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29707887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/escapismandsharpobjects/pseuds/escapismandsharpobjects
Summary: febuwhump day 25: car accident. set during 1x13 wait and hope, the aftermath of malcolm falling on gil's car.
Relationships: Gil Arroyo & Malcolm Bright, Malcolm Bright & Dani Powell, Malcolm Bright & JT Tarmel
Comments: 12
Kudos: 66





	crashing down on me, crashing down on you

**Author's Note:**

> hi! so like i said in the tags this is basically canon compliant? i added a bit of whump that isn't like, visible in the show but for the most part you can just insert this into the episode after he falls on the car and before they are back at the precinct and he looks all cleaned up. this is perhaps a bit of a nontraditional car accident but i had a lot of fun with it! hope you enjoy :)  
> title adapted? borrowed? inspired? something. from under pressure by queen and david bowie

He crashes through the window, the explosion following close behind him. The bulletproof vest protects him from the brunt of it, but he feels the heat, feels pieces of glass cut him, ripping tears into his suit. For a helpless second he falls, eyes wide at the explosion rushing out of the building above him, and then his back slams into the roof of a car with a horrible crunching, crashing sound, and bits of metal and glass rain down atop him. 

He makes a noise between a cough and a groan, rolling over slightly onto his side and taking a look around at the carnage, car alarms blaring around him, ears ringing. He looks at Gil, Dani, and JT as the three approach him. “I think I’m gonna miss my flight.”

He lies back against the wrecked roof of the car with a sigh, closing his eyes as the pain begins to  _ really  _ hit him.

His whole body hurts from the impact, though thankfully nothing feels broken. It just  _ hurts, _ a painful ache that’s especially bad across his shoulders and upper back, which he supposes had made contact first. 

“Are you...okay?” 

He opens his eyes at the sound of Dani’s voice, and takes a slightly wheezing breath to respond. 

“Not too bad.”

“I’m calling 911.”

“No, Gil, there’s really -” he cuts himself off with a cough that makes him feel like his body really  _ is  _ exploding this time. “- really no need.”

He can’t quite see Gil, but he pictures the look on his face as he agrees, hears the tightness in his voice. There’s something about it that makes Malcolm feel _...off._ “Okay. I’m not calling 911. As long as you can walk out of here.”

He can do that. 

If he can just sit up. But the roof of this car is covered in jagged bits of metal and glass that cut into his palms when he tries to push himself up, and his legs just slide out uselessly when he tries to use them to get himself up. 

“A little help here?” he suggests, looking around at his teammates as much as he can without lifting his head. 

A second later, JT’s grabbing one of his arms, and Dani’s got the other, and then he’s sitting up and looking around and making the horrible realization that he  _ knows  _ what car this is. 

Which explains why Gil’s still standing where he’d last been, rather than being one of the people to help him up. He’s looking at Malcolm - and at his car - with this pained expression on his face, because Malcolm’s hasty, slightly stupid plan has _ ruined it _ . 

“Yeah,” JT says, evidently noting the expression of horrible realization on Malcolm’s face. He pats Malcolm’s shoulder in sympathy, which hurts. Malcolm groans. 

“Sorry.”

JT and Dani help him off the smashed roof of Gil’s car, silently supporting him between them, his arms around their shoulders. He limps along with them over to the sidewalk, casting a backwards glance at Gil, who’s still standing there, looking at the smashed wreck that is his beloved car.

They lower Malcolm down onto the curb, and JT walks off to talk to Gil. Meanwhile, Dani bends down next to Malcolm for a second, looks him in the eyes.

“Are you  _ sure  _ you’re good?”

He nods. “I’m sure. I’ve had worse.” He smiles, hoping to come across as reassuring. 

“Yeah. That’s not…” Dani trails off. “Never mind.” She stands up, shakes her head at him when he tries to follow (not that he gets very far before his hurting body is forcing him back to the ground, anyway). “Quick thinking, Bright. Glad you’re not dead.”

“Me too.”

He watches her walk off to where JT and Gil are talking, and begins to feel an emotional pain well up in him, alongside the physical. Sure, he’d saved himself, but he’d wrecked Gil’s car. Gil loves his car more than just about anything. And now Malcolm has gone and  _ destroyed  _ it. 

He has to get up. He has to go to Gil and tell him how sorry he is. 

Malcolm staggers to his feet, this time forcing himself to stay standing through the pain. He wraps an arm across his torso like it’ll help keep him together, and starts walking over to where his team is standing. 

Every step he takes makes him feel like he’s about to collapse, and every second that passes makes him feel worse about what he’s done to Gil. Everything  _ hurts. _

He makes it maybe halfway to his destination before his legs decide they’ve had enough. They turn to nothing underneath him, and a sudden dizziness rushes through his head, and he’s falling again, falling, falling…

And then he’s not, but he’s not on the ground. Someone’s holding him up, holding their arms around him, and it hurts a bit but mostly it feels nice. _Safe._ It’s Gil. 

It’s  _ Gil.  _

He pulls back from Gil’s arms until he’s looking him in the face, apologies tumbling from his lips. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t - I ruined - I -” 

“Hey,” Gil’s voice cuts through his panic, and he sounds so gentle, so concerned, that Malcolm wants to cry (or maybe he's already crying? It’s hard to tell). “Kid, it’s okay.”

_ What? _

“Aren’t you - you’re not mad? I ruined your car.”

A brief pained look passes over Gil’s face, but it disappears almost immediately. “Of course I’m not mad, Malcolm. All that matters to me is that you’re okay.”

“But - your  _ car.” _

“My car,” Gil says, and he pulls Malcolm back into his arms, so gently it barely hurts at all, “is not  _ nearly  _ as important as you. You got that? She’s -  _ was  _ \- my _car._ You’re my  _ kid.” _

He’s  _ definitely  _ crying now, the tears running down his face, stinging his bloody cuts from the glass. He presses his face into Gil’s shoulder, barely noticing the increased pain from the slight change in position. 

For a moment, Gil just holds him, supports him, lets him cry. But after a bit, he pulls back, one arm still on Malcolm’s shoulder. He looks Malcolm up and down, then meets his eyes. 

“There’s an ambulance here,” he says. “Because of the explosion.”

Malcolm opens his mouth to object, but Gil shushes him before he can speak. 

“You don’t have to go anywhere. Just let them check you out, okay? Make sure nothing’s broken.”

That’s reasonable, Malcolm figures, and he nods his agreement. He can let the paramedics check him over, get just enough pain meds from them to make the pain bearable, head home and change his clothes, and get back to work. 

He’s got a killer to catch, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks so much for reading this!!!! now you get Me News for the second night in a row because i am just winning this week apparently - so not only did i test negative for covid which is just about the biggest relief in the world, but i got another kind of commendation? idk. in photography class where basically all my pictures for this assignment were Really Good which apparently like super rarely happens and that is fucking Insane i did Not think i was good enough to ever do that! so yeah i am having a Week lmao. but anyway i hope you liked this fic! please let me know if you did!!


End file.
